Home inspector sued for failing to discover mould in older home

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision confirmed a lower court ruling that a home inspector could be liable for failing to find a cause of mould, especially when knowing that the buyer was allergic to it.

In the original decision, the court held that since there was damage to the concrete parging at the base of the home, the inspector should have warned the buyer that moisture could have seeped into the foundation, which could have resulted in mould appearing after closing. The inspector was ordered to pay part of the cost to remove the mould.

The original decision also held that the real estate brokerage was also 25% at fault becuase they should have also read the inspection report and come to the same conclusion. Upon appeal, the brokerage won as the court was not satisfied that there was enough proof for the real estate salesperson to make the connection from defective parging to mould.

There is much to learn from this decision. If mould does matter to your buyer clients, make sure that they understand that this will require additional testing, at additional expense. Then get it in writing if they decide not to proceed with the testing.